Land use

Human-wildlife overlap is projected to increase across more than half of all lands around the globe by 2070. The main driver of these changes is human population growth. This is the central finding of our newly published study in the journal Science Advances. Our research suggests that as human population increases, humans and animals will share increasingly crowded landscapes. For example, as more people move into forests and agricultural regions, human-wildlife overlap will increase sharply. It also will increase in urban areas as people move to cities in search of jobs and opportunities. Animals are also moving, mainly in response to climate change, which is shifting their ranges. Across most areas, species richness – the number of unique species present – will decrease as animals follow their preferred climates. But because human population growth is increasing, there still will be more human-wildlife overlap across most lands. We also found areas where human-...

Despite their iconic status and long association with humans, Asian elephants are one of the most endangered large mammals. Believed to number between 45,000 and 50,000 individuals worldwide, they are at risk throughout Asia due to human activities such as deforestation, mining, dam building and road construction, which have damaged numerous ecosystems. My colleagues and I wanted to know when human actions started to fragment wildlife habitats and populations to the degree seen today. We quantified these impacts by considering them through the needs of this species. In a newly published study, we examined the centuries-long history of Asian landscapes that once were suitable elephant habitat and often were managed by local communities prior to the colonial era. In our view, understanding this history and restoring some of these relationships may be the key to living with elephants and other large wild animals in the future. Although e...